I left Seattle in 1999 after 63 straight days of rain and joined the Air Force. I spent the next three years (17-20 years old) trying to convince everyone how great Seattle was. After that, I just became quietly convinced that Seattle was the best city in America. Two mountain ranges, islands, three lakes, and awesome sister cities (Portland, Vancouver).

Someone once described Seattle as "being married to a really beautiful woman who is often sick." You want to take her out and show her off, but she's often bed-ridden. Obviously I'm getting at the rain.

Globally - I think the city that gives Seattle the most run for its money is Barcelona. It has a great waterfront (something Europeans are bad at taking advantage), mountains nearby, awesome architecture and its tucked away in a "remote" part of the country.

Sydney, Australia is one of my favorite cities. Barcelona is incredible also. Oh also Venice would be up there for me if it didn't have so many tourists all time.

As to your point about Seattle being a beautiful woman who is always sick, I kinda see it, but on the other hand the rain is precisely what makes it so beautiful and green around here. Kind of a catch 22

When I lived there, I didn't mind the rain. What I didn't like was how cold the ocean was, and didn't have white sandy beaches. Even in Florida, the beaches on the Atlantic side just don't compare to the Gulf side. And the water is clearer on the Gulf side as well.

The biggest thing I miss is being able to snow ski in the winter. Can't do that down here in the south.

Seattle is amazing for the culture and the amount of places to walk through nature and feel truly at peace. I can drive 5 minutes from my house (or walk a mile or two) and walk my dog on a nice path through some trees that have been alive for over a hundred years. Everything is green and glistening with rain. I only live 15 minutes from Seattle.

I truly love this area, but sometimes I feel like its a better place to visit than live in. The overcast skies can really get to you sometimes, especially if your battling depression. If you can step outside yourself and view the world without the colored lenses of human experience (ex: grey is limbo, rain is sadness) then it is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world. Every once and a while I will look around and realize how truly alive the Seattle area is.

Honolulu can be fun, but talk about commercialized tourist trap hell! The best place in Waikiki to have a drink though is Moose McGillycuddy's, IMO. Too bad I'm sober now, but they do have kick ass omelettes!

There are some fantastic cities around the world. My favorites are some very cool places in Europe:

Cadiz, Spain - So much ancient seaside charm. Great places to eat, cool museum, awesome back alley shopping, beautiful stretch of waterfront and beach. Carnival there is marvelous.

London, England - So many great and historic sights, linked together by the cool underground. Shopping and pubs and great restaurants all over.

Munich, Germany - Wonderful architectural sights, like the Glockenspiel, a clock-tower sized cuckoo clock above the Marienplatz. The beer houses are amazingly great and all over the place.

Zagreb, Croatia - Very easy to get around, and the old town area, both Gornji Grad and Dolji Grad, are chalk full of sights, restaurants, pubs and such. The national theater there is well worth a visit too.

But pound for pound, Seattle ranks right up there, especially for cities in the United States. Living here, it's easy to overlook some of the great aspects of the city and surrounds. There is an awful lot to do here, and because the downtown area is so compact, it's easy to get around and see a lot in a little amount of time. The Space Needle is one of the coolest national landmarks we have, as well as the EMP, Pike Market, Pioneer Square - and that's just within walking distance downtown. Plus it's small enough to still give off that small town vibe.

"The ultimate number is W's, and that’s what matters in Santa Clara. As such, Jed York does not own the 49ers; Russell Wilson does." - Paul Gutierrez

Feel free to contact me if you need legal assistance. I have a great lawyer that helped me with an ex who violated my privacy and kept harassing me on MySpace and Facebook. He's very good. And there is legal precedent. - linuxpro

I wish to God that I could find that rant by a prominent .Net member a few months ago (don't remember who) who basically went off about how Seattle was full of politically-correct hypocrites. I hate Seattle. Everyone I know there is a giant, ideologically programmed fake, including a lot of the Christians.

You have to get out into the plains to meet real people. Fender-bender? Messed-up McDonald's order? Nobody's gonna care.

MontanaHawk05 wrote:I wish to God that I could find that rant by a prominent .Net member a few months ago (don't remember who) who basically went off about how Seattle was full of politically-correct hypocrites. I hate Seattle. Everyone I know there is a giant, ideologically programmed fake, including a lot of the Christians.

You have to get out into the plains to meet real people. Fender-bender? Messed-up McDonald's order? Nobody's gonna care.

I really enjoyed Budapest. It was a nice city. I liked Prague more though. It's easier to get around. They have subways that circle the city, and stations about every 5 feet. Then they have light rail that runs around on the streets. It's like a hub and spoke, and it's beautiful there. I really liked a lot of Eastern Europe. Most cities in America are kind of "meh" because of mainly transportation issues. I love San Diego because of the weather. I love San Jose's outskirts because of the nice weather, but it's just too expensive to do anything there.

I love Utah, because we have 4 real seasons. I live ON a mountain at a mile of elevation, and then it goes up another 7,000 feet behind me. I moved 6 miles to the north. I was at the base of the mountain, now I'm up on it. I heard a mountain lion rumbling around outside last night. That was kind of cool. Just don't mess with one. It will rip you apart.

In 3 months we're moving 10 miles to the west right on the banks of a lake that is quite large (about 25 miles long and about 8 miles wide), and the river that connects it to the Great Salt Lake will run through my backyard right below my bedroom window. They have a massive pump system and flood gates in place so that it can't flood out our home. We're quite happy and I enjoy living here. I'm just very liberal and this place is way conservative. But you take what you can get. Overall it's a safe place and I don't mind being here, and it has as many recreation opportunities as you can handle. For example... if I were so inclined, I could drive 10 miles from here and be snowboarding, and then finish up the day with 18 holes of golf because it is about 50 degrees outside. Not many places in the world like that.

Shark, I've heard similar about Prague. It's tops of my to-visit list. Had a chance to go back in '03, but just ran out of money traveling all the other places I did. Wish we would have done it anyway now. I'm assuming it's similar to some of the other Eastern European cities like Zagreb, which of course only makes me want to visit it more because I know how awesome it's going to be.

MontanaHawk05 wrote:You have to get out into the plains to meet real people. Fender-bender? Messed-up McDonald's order? Nobody's gonna care.

Incidentally, one of the first things the wife and I noticed about people out here was how polite and caring people were here. It was particularly noticeable in fast food joints. Coming from the East Coast, where truly nobody gave a shit, the difference was astonishing. The first time we went through a drive through, we both commented on it, saying it hardly felt like fast food because they were so nice, polite, and actually cared about the food they were giving us. And the rare time I've seen an order messed up here, I'm usually offered a free extra sandwich or fries or something.

I'll agree, Montana has some great people. I lived there for eight years and loved it. You're probably a bit spoiled since you know every single denizen of your town, but for bigger cities, Seattle is quite at the high end of politeness and civility.

"The ultimate number is W's, and that’s what matters in Santa Clara. As such, Jed York does not own the 49ers; Russell Wilson does." - Paul Gutierrez

Seattle is great from about the 4th of July until about mid September. I like San Diego, Lake Havasu, and Vegas more on the western side. And I agree with taz about the better shores in the Gulf side of Florida. I haven't really been up in the north east much so I can't say for certain. And you can cross off the mid west since I have seen all of that and you aren't missing anything except nice friendly people.

MontanaHawk05 wrote:I wish to God that I could find that rant by a prominent .Net member a few months ago (don't remember who) who basically went off about how Seattle was full of politically-correct hypocrites. I hate Seattle. Everyone I know there is a giant, ideologically programmed fake, including a lot of the Christians.

You have to get out into the plains to meet real people. Fender-bender? Messed-up McDonald's order? Nobody's gonna care.

Oh, Jesus. I can't respond to this, or I'll say something that will earn me a vacation. Suffice to say, you're very much a small-town guy, Montana.

Seahawk Sailor wrote:Shark, I've heard similar about Prague. It's tops of my to-visit list. Had a chance to go back in '03, but just ran out of money traveling all the other places I did. Wish we would have done it anyway now. I'm assuming it's similar to some of the other Eastern European cities like Zagreb, which of course only makes me want to visit it more because I know how awesome it's going to be.

Interesting note about Zagreb. I never got to go there because the day before we were supposed to go in, the state department said they weren't going to help extricate us if we had issues. We had visas and were given the go ahead, and then got stuck in Timisoara Romania, which is another very cool city. I really want to go back and see Zagreb. I really regret that I didn't get to, but this was May of 1995 and things were still on high alert. A bus had hit a roadside bomb the week we were to go in, so that was why we got the warning from the state department.

We ended up meeting up with another Mormon guy in Timisoara who was there enforcing an embargo (yeah right... he was totally a CIA official). Anyway, he helped get my brother and I out of the country and on to a plane to Seattle because our Uncle had just up and died the night before. Mr. CIA got us onto a plane without tickets, and got us transfers in Vienna, Atlanta and Las Vegas with about five minutes of phone calls. It was amazing. He talked to security at the Timisoara airport and they waved us through without issue. It was funny because he had only been there for about a month, and was speaking Romanian really fast. That is when I was like "wait... you don't work for the department of the treasury" he was like "Uh... yeah I do. Here's my card." With a wink.... pretty funny.

Eastern Europe is way cool. Vienna is of course "west" but totally overrated. Too pricey, too crowded, and the people are pretty snotty. Never had that in Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, Timisoara, Prague, or any of the other places we went.

Honolulu can be fun, but talk about commercialized tourist trap hell! The best place in Waikiki to have a drink though is Moose McGillycuddy's, IMO. Too bad I'm sober now, but they do have kick ass omelettes!

I grew up in Honolulu. I lived there for 50 years. I moved to the Bellevue area 5 years ago. I love living here. It's clean, the people are civilized, the schools are good, there is way more opportunity here and if your talking about natural beauty, on your average day, the Puget sound area far surpasses Honolulu.Obviously Honolulu has better weather. My thought about the weather is that if the weather is what determines your daily mood you have bigger problems than just weather.

Honolulu can be fun, but talk about commercialized tourist trap hell! The best place in Waikiki to have a drink though is Moose McGillycuddy's, IMO. Too bad I'm sober now, but they do have kick ass omelettes!

I grew up in Honolulu. I lived there for 50 years. I moved to the Bellevue area 5 years ago. I love living here. It's clean, the people are civilized, the schools are good, there is way more opportunity here and if your talking about natural beauty, on your average day, the Puget sound area far surpasses Honolulu.Obviously Honolulu has better weather. My thought about the weather is that if the weather is what determines your daily mood you have bigger problems than just weather.

I've spent several years on Oahu, and can't say I really enjoyed Honolulu all that much. Yea, the touristy, seedy, oversold paradise schtick has a certain appeal, especially after dark, but it gets old quick. Pound for pound, your best bet on Oahu is the little North Shore town of Haleiwa. Tiny surfing town that has all the ambiance, twice the charm, and none of the commercialism that is Honolulu.

Plus you can stop by Kua Aina Burger. Best burger joint this side of Gardiner, Montana.

"The ultimate number is W's, and that’s what matters in Santa Clara. As such, Jed York does not own the 49ers; Russell Wilson does." - Paul Gutierrez

12evanf wrote:Rome and Barcelona are my top two "cities." Seattle is damned beautiful though.

I thought Rome was filthy and Barcelona had the rudest people.

I don't think I could get tired of looking at the sites in Rome. There's only so many times I can visit the Fremont Troll. Seattle's a great American city, friendly people, nice attractions, great mountain views on the waterfront, but when compared to international city's I think its outmatched.

12evanf wrote:I don't think I could get tired of looking at the sites in Rome. There's only so many times I can visit the Fremont Troll. Seattle's a great American city, friendly people, nice attractions, great mountain views on the waterfront, but when compared to international city's I think its outmatched.

This isn't exactly a fair comparison. The world didn't know the Americas existed when Rome was already a couple thousand years old. Seattle is 158 years old. That's like expecting a toddler to be as grown-up and cultured as a 40-year-old person.

Never had the luck to visit Europe, have traveled a lot in Mexico when in the Coast Guard but have been to a lot of places in the US.

Seattle is wonderful in August and September for sure. You can see why its called the Emerald City or, like Rome a city built on 7 hills. Great shopping and always something to do or see. Uwagimaya's downtown is a must visit anytime of year. Where else can you find rice cookers from $10 to $700? And like I told Scott you can't find better food anywhere than Seattle.

But for summer its hard to beat Eastern Washington and that includes anywhere in the states. Warm to hot summer days, little if any rain, and great variable scenery. Winter? I hate it more every year.

November/December/January the Gulf Coast of Florida is great. Visit Tampa now and then for lunch and perhaps a trip to Orlando to visit the Cheyenne Saloon or Disney World. The little town of Belleair Bluffs was great for us. Close to Tampa and the gulf, great people and warm breezes. Those same breezes are miserable until you get used to them in the spring/summer.

One thing we have done most years till this one is visit Seattle in late January or February to get a break from the winter weather here. With surgerys and the problems with dog deaths in the Redmond area we are staying home this year.

12evanf wrote:I don't think I could get tired of looking at the sites in Rome. There's only so many times I can visit the Fremont Troll. Seattle's a great American city, friendly people, nice attractions, great mountain views on the waterfront, but when compared to international city's I think its outmatched.

This isn't exactly a fair comparison. The world didn't know the Americas existed when Rome was already a couple thousand years old. Seattle is 158 years old. That's like expecting a toddler to be as grown-up and cultured as a 40-year-old person.

Exactly. The thread title says "the World." Its not a fair comparison. Seattle is top 5 cities in the US and I don't think I could name 4 cities ahead of it easily. I haven't been to San Diego, but I've only heard good things.

SmokinHawk wrote:The answer is a resounding "no". That honor belongs to Kennewick.

Sunshine and good wine is awesome.

But it's no Umatilla, amirite?

On topic: No. Great place and a city I would liked to have lived in, but I think I'd prefer Vancouver, BC to Seattle in the PNW if I didn't live in Portland.

True enough. Umatilla's got the two titty bars and a massage parlor going for it. Not bad for a city of 3000. Tri-Cities pales by comparison.

Feel free to contact me if you need legal assistance. I have a great lawyer that helped me with an ex who violated my privacy and kept harassing me on MySpace and Facebook. He's very good. And there is legal precedent. - linuxpro

12evanf wrote:I don't think I could get tired of looking at the sites in Rome. There's only so many times I can visit the Fremont Troll. Seattle's a great American city, friendly people, nice attractions, great mountain views on the waterfront, but when compared to international city's I think its outmatched.

This isn't exactly a fair comparison. The world didn't know the Americas existed when Rome was already a couple thousand years old. Seattle is 158 years old. That's like expecting a toddler to be as grown-up and cultured as a 40-year-old person.

Exactly. The thread title says "the World." Its not a fair comparison. Seattle is top 5 cities in the US and I don't think I could name 4 cities ahead of it easily. I haven't been to San Diego, but I've only heard good things.

San Diego is great for weather, but it's also drab scenery and really spread out ( I put something like 200 miles on my car in 2 days). Great beer, though.

Seahawk Sailor wrote:Shark, I've heard similar about Prague. It's tops of my to-visit list. Had a chance to go back in '03, but just ran out of money traveling all the other places I did. Wish we would have done it anyway now. I'm assuming it's similar to some of the other Eastern European cities like Zagreb, which of course only makes me want to visit it more because I know how awesome it's going to be.

MontanaHawk05 wrote:You have to get out into the plains to meet real people. Fender-bender? Messed-up McDonald's order? Nobody's gonna care.

Incidentally, one of the first things the wife and I noticed about people out here was how polite and caring people were here. It was particularly noticeable in fast food joints. Coming from the East Coast, where truly nobody gave a shit, the difference was astonishing. The first time we went through a drive through, we both commented on it, saying it hardly felt like fast food because they were so nice, polite, and actually cared about the food they were giving us. And the rare time I've seen an order messed up here, I'm usually offered a free extra sandwich or fries or something.

I'll agree, Montana has some great people. I lived there for eight years and loved it. You're probably a bit spoiled since you know every single denizen of your town, but for bigger cities, Seattle is quite at the high end of politeness and civility.

I live in Montana, too. In terms of politeness, it's about a toss-up (there are plenty of douchebags here in Billings). Seattle, however, has much better drivers.

I've grown up in Vancouver and summered in Seattle my whole life (My moms side of the familly lives in Seattle). I lived in Seattle for two years and Waikiki/Honalulu for a year. I'd rank them Van, Hawaii, then Seattle. I lived in North Bergen New Jersey for a year and even that I'd grade above Seattle but only because Manhattan was a 5 min car ride away.